


The Work Waits (I’m Alive at Last)

by mizface



Series: Linnet Bird [16]
Category: Canadian 6 Degrees, Harper's Island
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-28
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-09 20:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/777433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizface/pseuds/mizface
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Madison carefully placed the pair of shoes on the ground, then looked at her handiwork with a critical eye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Work Waits (I’m Alive at Last)

**Author's Note:**

> For a photo prompt on dsc6dsnippets. As always, the title comes from a _Sweeney Todd_ lyric, this one from “Epiphany”

Madison carefully placed the pair of shoes on the ground, then looked at her handiwork with a critical eye. After a few moments she leaned in to shift one slightly and checked again, nodding approvingly as she took in the changes made by the new angle. A few artfully arranged leaves completed the tableau.

She took out her camera and started shooting, coming at the scene from several angles and distances. Some were so close you’d never be able to place the location; others showed pieces of sidewalk she dismissed as easy enough to edit out.

In her mind’s eye she was already adding to the composition, trading cold gray concrete for soft, loamy earth. Cracks in the pavement became knobs of tree roots, gnarled and weathered, breaking through the ground cover to cradle the shoes, accept them as the offering they were.

For a moment, Madison let herself picture being there, putting the shoes at the base of her tree. She could feel herself lean against its trunk, surrounded by everything that meant home. The sharpness of the longing that thought elicited nearly took her breath away; she forcibly pushed the idea down. It wasn’t yet time to go back to the island, but she took comfort in the fact that each day brought her closer.

Pictures taken, Madison picked up the shoes, putting them neatly into her bag. Back at the house they would return to their place on the shelf next to scuffed, stained workboots that were mementos of earlier still lifes she’d created. 

She absently brushed bits of leaves off her gloved fingers before putting away the camera, mind busy with pencil and paper choices for her newest work. Madison used them as placeholders until she could go home.

For now, it was enough.


End file.
